Teachings of Inner Light Ministries
ILM provides teachings and exercises in two main areas: practicing the Inner Spiritual Path of meditation, and comprehending the principles of karma and freedom of choice. Some of ILM’s teachings in these areas are briefly described below.
Creation and The Levels of Life
All of Creation is a Oneness, with levels that differ in their rates of vibration and are organized into the higher and lower realms; the lower realms are characterized by time, space, and the laws of karma, whereas the higher realms are characterized by inherent Oneness, freedom, Loving and bliss.
The “Lower Realms”:
- the Physical Realm – the realm of physical matter;
- the Astral Realm – the realm of creative imagination;
- the Causal Realm – the realm of emotion;
- the Mental Realm – the realm of mind (of intellect and conscious knowing);
- the Etheric Realm – the realm of unconsciousness which insulates the lower from the higher realms (also known as “the void”).
In contrast to these five lower realms, the Realms of Spirit are permanent and eternal, and characterized only by Loving and bliss. When our consciousness is elevated to this level of awareness, the Oneness of all things “with one another and with God” is directly experienced and known.
The “Higher or Spiritual Realms”:
- the Soul Realm, which is the Home of Soul;
- the many Realms of pure Spirit, which lie beyond the Soul Realm.
The Threefold Path back to the Realms of Soul and Above: Meditation, Study, and Service
It has long been taught that there are three major pathways to the knowing of God. These are the path of meditation, the path of study, and the path of service. When one is ready to actively pursue their spiritual growth by traveling The Path of Sound and Light, he or she will work with all three, as follows.
The first major pathway to the knowing of God is the path of meditation. This is the path of inward journey. It is the active pursuit of the Spirit within by spending time each day in communion with God through meditation. ILM is dedicated to teaching spiritual awakening through an inner practice of meditation known as “The Path of Sound and Light”, “The Path of The Holy Spirit”, “The Path of Love”, or simply as “The Path” or “The Way”. ILM offers initiation into this meditation practice, under the guidance of a living teacher, enabling one to fully experience this inner journey of awakening.
The path of study involves the active participation in learning about God. It involves opening our eyes, opening our minds and opening our hearts to an ever greater awareness of God, His presence, His principles and His ongoing Self-expression.
The path of service is the path of actively living the principles of Spirit by giving loving assistance to self and others.
Helpers: Spirit Guides, Angels, and Spiritual Teachers
We are provided helpers of many kinds, who assist us on our journey and help us avoid becoming forever trapped by our karma in the lower realms.
The most powerful form of spiritual assistance comes from the spiritual teachers.
Spiritual Teachers:
- are human beings, currently living in the physical realm;
- have awakened into a particular realm(s) through the practice of a specified meditative discipline;
- initiate selected students into the discipline which will lead them towards eventual awakening to a particular realm(s);
- hold the spiritual keys of initiation and thereby serve to ‘anchor’ a particular spiritual presence, and so make it available in the physical world;
- include the Sound Current teachers, who, when the student is ready, will lead him or her to the audible Holy Spirit of God, by which he or she will be reinstated into the Spiritual Realms from which we all have come.
The Holy Spirit
The Holy Spirit is the very highest of all the energy currents of God. It is, in fact, the energy of the Spiritual Realms; it originates in God and goes out from Him to form the realms that constitute His Creation. It is also the “straight and narrow” energy pathway that takes us from the lower realms on The Path of Sound and Light back to our true Home in the Soul Realm.
Understanding Karma and Reincarnation
All human beings have a set of lower bodies through which the soul can have experience in the lower realms. Because of these bodies, we tend to fall victim to the pleasure-pain pitfalls that enmesh us in the lower realms. Each action in the lower realms leads to a chain of reactions in all of the lower bodies we are wearing (this process of action-reaction is called karma), and all of these reactions must be set to rest before we are free to leave the lower realms and return Home to the Spiritual Realms.
The death of the physical body does not free us from the Law of Karma. When the physical body has finished its span of years, the person leaves the physical realm; and yet, if his or her physical karma is not fully balanced, he or she is not really free of this realm. Instead, any imbalanced physical karma will draw him or her back into another birth (another “incarnation”) in the physical realm.
Karma and “LAF”
The method of freeing oneself from the karmic hold of the lower realms is through the meditation practice of “The Path of Sound and Light.” While living as we are in these lower realms, the way to keep from getting more and more attached and bound by karma, and to be able to move more easily into the Realms of Soul and Spirit, is to practice what Inner Light Ministries calls “LAF”: Loving, Acceptance, and Forgiveness.
Loving
That pathway back Home out of the lower realms of karma, through the Realms of Soul and back into the Realms of Spirit, starts right here in this body … and it’s done through Loving. It’s not done by psychic ability, or by the mind, or by the emotions; it’s done by Loving God. It’s just that simple. If we can remember that, if we can bring that into our awareness in our meditation and just let that lead us, let that guide us, let that be the means by which we do our meditation, then we will find our meditations opening to greater awareness, to greater experience, to greater joy, to greater Loving, and to greater nurturing.
Acceptance
Acceptance involves seeing and ’embracing’ ourselves just as we are right now, with all our mental and emotional warts and imperfections, without any conditions, and then opening ourselves to accept others for who they are as well. The act of acceptance allows us to ‘let go’ of the shortcomings of this world – both our own and others’ … and to move into Loving.
Forgiveness
Because God is always present within us, the Love, the Joy, the Peace of God are always alive in us as well. They are never really lost, just obstructed at times by the things of the world, by karmas. However, if we’re not experiencing their presence, we can overcome our inner obstacles or karmas by letting go of whatever is blocking the ongoing flow of His Holy Spirit. Forgiveness is the ‘magic medicine’ that dissolves these obstructions and brings us the healing we need, whether in the relationships within ourselves or in our relationships with others … allowing us to move into acceptance and Loving.
